https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-2-2026
"
The Economist’s Middle East correspondent Gregg Carlstrom noted that Trump
appears to be workshopping the causes for his attacks on Iran and his goals for
the war by talking to journalists.
As
Meidas Touch summarized Carlstrom’s argument, he said: “[Trump] doesn’t
sound convinced by any of it. He’s throwing spaghetti at the wall. Ultimately I
suspect he just wants to say he ‘solved’ a problem that has vexed every
American president since Jimmy Carter. But there’s no clear idea what that
looks like and no plan for how to get there. And there are plenty of possible
scenarios in which Trump declares victory and leaves the region with an
absolute mess.”
Matt Gertz of
Media Matters noted today that Trump, who watches the
Fox News
Channel consistently, appears to have shaped his attack on Iran in response to
encouragement from
FNC hosts. Gertz recalled that for decades, the
FNC
hosts Trump trusts the most have called for military strikes on Iran.
Last June,
FNC personalities Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Brian Kilmeade
urged Trump to bomb Iran and then lavished praise on him when he did. Hannity
said the bombing would “go down in history as one of the great military
victories.”
In the past weeks, Gertz wrote, the same figures have been urging Trump to
attack. But their goal appeared to be the bombing itself. They expected an easy
victory, without defining what that might look like. According to Kilmeade, the
U.S. would “lose credibility forever” if it didn’t hit Iran. On Friday morning,
Kilmeade said: “I hope the president chooses to go at it. We have been looking
at these headlines for 47 years, and we have an opportunity to end it. And this
president likes to make history.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
